Public Bills, which relate to public policy, are
first numbered when introduced, and each amended version
receives a new number. Private Bills, introduced for the
particular interest of individuals, public bodies, or
local authorities, are not officially printed until they
become Acts and do not appear in the Sessional Papers.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES

These may be generated by the House of
Commons sitting as a Committee of the Whole, or by Select
Committees (with a membership of Commons members only), or
Joint Select Committees (with a membership of both Houses
of Parliament). Reports cover the subject matter and
texts of proposed legislation as well as the minutes of
Committee meetings.

RETURNS

Returns are administrative or executive reports issued
periodically or special reports that are required by an
Act of Parliament.

ACT PAPERS

These are similar to Returns but are mostly from
non-departmental agencies, such as national boards, cor-
porations, and authorities established by Parliament.

ROYAL COMMISSION PAPERS AND REPORTS

Reports of specially
appointed commissions of investigation, not created by
Parliament but by Royal Warrant. They may include state
papers on foreign affairs, reports issued on the authority
of a government department, reports from ad hoc
committees, and statistical returns. Many are issued as
Command Papers (below).

COMMAND PAPERS

Reports sent to Parliament through the
initiative of the government minister or by Royal Warrant
rather than required by an Act of Parliament. They
include:

State papers (Treaty Series, Country Series,
Miscellaneous)

Policy or "white papers"

Some annual reports

Reports of royal commissions

Reports of departmental committees

Reports of tribunals and commissions of inquiry

Statistical reports

Command Papers are numbered consecutively and have been
published thus far in five series, distinguished by letter
prefixes:

Facsimile reproductions of extant Bills,
Reports, Accounts and Papers during the reigns of
George I, George II, and George III, 1715-1800.
Includes reports appearing in the Abbott
Collection (Entry 4) and "First Series" (Entry 3),
as well as new material not elsewhere available.
Lists but does not reprint reports appearing in
the House of Commons Journal (Entry 2).

Volumes 1 and 2 serve as an index to the set.
Volume 2 has a subject index for 1715-1800, citing
the year, type of document, and number of each
publication. Publications can then be identified
in Volume 2, which lists all Bills, Reports,
Accounts and Papers, 1715-1760, or Volume 2,
1761-1800. Citations in these lists are given to
the House of Commons Journal as appropriate. A
plus (+) next to the Entry indicates the document
is reprinted in the Lambert set. The page number
of Volume 1 or 3 and the "Location" number of the
individual publication should be noted. It is
then necessary to turn to a second list in each
respective index volume to find the citation to
the volume in which the reprint occurs.

Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons.
Journals of the House of
Commons. v.1-176;
1547-1921. London. (Grad. Lib. J 301 .K3) [Entry 2]

Reprints many of the Commons' reports prior to
the 19th Century. References are cited in the
Journal's own indexes, in the Lambert Collection (Entry 1)
and in Hansard's Cataolgue and Breviate (Entry 12).

Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons.
Reports from committees of the House of Commons.
v.1-15. London. 1803-1806. (Rare Book Room J 301 .K5)
Entry 3]

Cited as the "First Series." A reprinted
collection of Parliamentary reports, 1715-1801,
not inserted in the House of Commons Journal
(Entry 2). Includes its own index and is also
indexed by Hansard's Catalogue and Breviate (Entry
12). Lambert's Collection (Entry 1) is considered
more comprehensive.

Reproduces papers appearing in the Abbott
Collection but excludes those appearing in the
House of Commons Journal (Entry 2). The papers are
arranged in four sequences: Accounts and Papers,
Catalogue of Papers, Bills, and Reports. The
Catalogue has a chronological listing of contents.

Each session of Parliament usually lasts one year. There may
be well over 50 volumes of Parliamentary Papers for each session. The
order of papers within the bound volumes, until 1968/69, is as follows:

PUBLIC BILLS: arranged alphabetically by their titles.

REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES: arranged by subject of name of
committee.

REPORTS FROM COMMISSIONERS, etc.: arranged by subject.

ACCOUNTS AND PAPERS: Arranged in a traditional order, by which Finance comes first, followed by Security, Defense, the Civil Estimate. Trade and Navigational Accounts, Treaties, and International Agreements.

SESSIONAL INDEX: lists Bills, Papers, Command Papers, and Reports
separately in numerical order and includes a detailed alphabetical
index to all Sessional Papers. Refers to bound volume number and page if the
pages in each volume were numbered.

Beginning with the session of 1969/70 there are only two sequences:

PUBLIC BILLS: arranged alphabetically but with the minutes
of proceedings of committees placed immediately after the bill to which they refer.

REPORTS, ACCOUNTS AND PAPERS: in a single alphabetical
subject arrangement.

Microfiche holdings are 1731-1944/45 and 1985/86 to the present.
Microfiche
is the only format available for 1731-1833 and 1985/86 to present. Holdings
of the paper copy (Entry 6) are sparse for 1834-1899 but fairly complete for 1900-1982/83 and provide an alternative to fiche. The Law Library microfiche (Entry 7) must be used
for 1983/84-1984/85.

Indexes bills, reports, accounts and papers and provides the full text
for all but 30 of those years. Search engine provides keyword, title,
committee, subject, and session approaches. Pages may be viewed
individually or downloaded as a whole document.

Holdings are sparse, 1834-1899, and some individual reports are listed with separate call numbers in MIRLYN. The printed set is complete, 1900-1902, and 1909-1982/83. Use the Law Library microfiche (Entry 7) for 1983/84-1984/85 and Graduate Library micr
ofiche (Entry 5) beginning 1985/86. The last volume of each session is an
index. For other indexes, see entries entries 8-12 and 14-22. Use the
CD-ROM index (Entry 11) for 1990/91+.

Same as Graduate Library microfiche. The only source available on the University of
Michigan campus for 1983/84-1984/85. Government Publications Consolidated List (Entry 10), which is located in the Documents Center, may be used as an index before contacting the Law Library for that two-year time period.

Indexes bills, reports, accounts and papers and provides the full text
for all but 30 of those years. Search engine provides keyword, title,
committee, subject, and session approaches. Pages may be viewed
individually or downloaded as a whole document.

Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. General alphabetical index to the
bills, reports, estimates, accounts and papers. 1801-1899. Shannon, Ireland, Irish
University Press. [Entry 9]

Arranged by broad subject heading. Each heading has a table of contents listing specific subjects and types of documents included. Citations give the year of the session, a paper number in parentheses,
Roman numeral for the volume number of that session, and a page number. The paper number in
parentheses is not needed to locate the document. The pages in the bound volumes are not
continuously numbered, so the page number refers to the document's location were the pages
actually numbered. A reference to "1863 (518) LII 519" would be interpreted as "1863 Session,
v. 52, p. 519 if the pages were numbered."

Since the 1801-1852 volume only covers Accounts and Papers, the General Index to Bills,
1801-1852 (Doc. Cen. Z 2009 .A38), Index to the Reports from Select
Committees of the House of Commons, 1800-1845 (Doc. Cen. Z 2009 .A39), and General Index to the Bills, Reports, Accounts, and Other Papers, 1845-1852
(Doc. Cen. Z 2009 .A4) should be consulted for related material.

For coies of the Sessional Papers, see Entries 5 and 6.

Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. General index to the bills, reports and papers...., and to the reports and papers presented by command. 1900-1958/59. London,
H.M. Stationery Office. (Doc. Cen. Z 2009 .A38) [Entry
10]

The two volumes, 1900-1948/49 and 1950-1958/59, are arranged alphabetically by subject.
For each paper, citation is given to the year of the session, a paper number in parentheses, Roman
numeral for the volume number of that session, and page number. The paper number given in parentheses is not needed to locate the document. The pages in the bound volume are not numbered
continuously, so the page number refers to the document's location were the pages actually
numbered. (See Entry 9 for example.)

Annual cumulation provides a subject and numerical approach to current Bills, Reports, Accounts, and Papers. Can be used for identifying publications for 1983/84-84/85 before consulting the Law Library's
microfiche of the sessional papers [Entry 7].

Indexes bills, command papers, and House of Commons papers by category,
title, keyword, subject, session, paper number, and date. Updated
quarterly. Should be used in conjunction with the Graduate Library's
microfiche of the sessional papers [Entry 5].

Lists Commons papers by broad subject category. Citations are made to the House of Commons Journal [Entry 2], First Series [Entry 3], and the bound Sessional Papers [Entry 5]. Indexed by author and detailed subject. A separate chart lists relevants House
of Lords papers not reprinted by the House of Commons.

Lists by broad subject category selected Commons papers and those Lords papers not reprinted by the House of Commons. Provides for each report a citation to the bound volume of Sessional Papers, indexed by subject. For copies of the Sessional Papers, see
Entries 5, 6 and 22 and 23.

Lists selected Commons and Lords Sessional Papers by broad subject heading. Provides citation to the complete text and an abstract of each document. Indexed by author and keyword-in-title. For copies of the Sessional Papers, see Entries 5, 6, and 23.

Lists selected Commons and Lords Sessional Papers by broad subject heading. Provides citation to the complete text and an abstract of each document. Indexed by author and keyword-in-title. For copies of the Sessional Papers, see Entries 5, 6, and 23.

Lists selected Commons and Lords Sessional Papers by broad subject heading. Provides citation to the
complete text and an abstract of each document. Indexed by author and keyword-in-title. For copies of the Sessional Papers, see Entries 5, 6, and 23.

Lists by broad subject category selected Commons and Lords Sessional Papers, as well as some Acts of
Parliament and related non-Parliamentary publications. Provides citations to the complete text of each
document and some annotations. Indexed by author and keyword-in-title. For copies of the Sessional
Papers, see Entries 5, 6, and 23.

Lists by broad subject category selected Commons and Lords Sessional Papers, as well as some
Acts of Parliament and related non-Parliamentary publications. Provides citation to the complete
text of each document and some annotations. Indexed by author and keyword-in-title. For
copies of the Sessional Papers, see Entries 5, 6, and 24.

Lists papers relating to British foreign affairs appearing in the House of Commons Sessional Papers [Entries 5-6), House of Commons Journals (Entry 2), and House of Lords Sessional Papers (Entries 22 and 23). Arranged chronologically with indexes by subje
ct and country.

Lists chronologically all Bills, Papers, and Command Papers on British foreign affairs appearing in the House of Commons Sessional Papers. Indexed by country and subject. For copies of the Sessional Papers, see Entries 5 and 6.

Most subject indexes to House of Commons Sessional Papers cite the year, volume, and page number on which a given Command Paper appears. However, if you just have a citation to a Command Paper number, the means for locating it depends on the year it was
published.

Between 1963 and the last bound volume of Sessional Papers, use the
numerical listing in each bound index (Entries 5-7) to determine the
Command Paper's volume and page number. Prior to 1963, use Entry 22.

Like their Commons counterpart, House of Lords Sessional Papers include Bills, Reports, Accounts, and Papers. Command Papers were bound into the set, 1833-1870. While much of the Lords material is duplicated in the Commons Sessional Papers (Entries 5-7)
, the Lords version of Bills, Peerage Cases, Procedural Papers, and early 19th Century Reports from Committees are unique.

Each session of Parliament usually lasts one year. The arrangement of bound volumes for the early 19th Century varied with the individual set. Between the 1830's and the early 20th Century, each session's papers were grouped as follows:

Holdings are limited to Bills 1901-02 and 1919-24 but are complete for 1900
and beginning 1924/25-1978/85.

Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords.

Sessional papers, 1984/85-present. London. (MICRO-F X421)
[Entry 24A]

This is self-indexed but not indexed on the Documents Center's CD-ROM in
Entry 12.

If the University of Michigan does not own a particular paper:

Check the House of Commons indexes for inclusion in that set.

A reprinted of House of Lords Papers, 1641-1805, and microfilm, 1806-1859, are available on inter-library loan from the Center for Research Libraries.

For Papers 1860-1924, not available at the University of Michigan, see Winifred Gregory's List of Serial Publications of Foreign Governments, 1815-1931 (Doc. Cen.
Z 7164 .G7 L77), p. 311, to identify libraries tentatively owning and loaning the material.

For Papers, 1985 to present, ask a library staff member to consult
RLIN in order to verify
libraries tentatively supplying the material on inter-library
loan.

Arranged by broad subject heading. Each heading has a table of contents listing specific subjects and types of documents included. Citations give the year of the session, Roman numeral for the volume number of that session, and page number. The pages in t
he bound volumes are not continuously numbered, so the page number refers to the document's location were the pages actually numbered.

The Documents Center has cumulative indexes for 1801-1884/85 and sessional indexes, 1903-05-1908-20. The Graduate Library has most of these, including an index for the sessions 1901-02, under the call number:
J 301 .J6 index.

Annual indexes were discontinued in 1920. They were replaced by a detailed table of contents in the first volume of each year's Papers. The various bibliographies by Percy Ford (Entries 13-18) provide a subject approach to selected Pape
rs from the House of Lords, 1833-1974, while Government
Publications (Entry 12) provides a comprehensive subject
approach,
1992
to present. For a listing of Lords Papers prior to 1801,
consult Hansard's Catalog and Breviate (Entry
13).